Forever A Protector
by AndreeaRaducan
Summary: AU. Haven, in a spat of teenage anger, deals a devastating blow to JJ's healed wounds. Rated T for mature themes.


**A/N: I'm back with my favourite family, the LaMontagnes! Haven's getting feisty!**

**Also, I'm considering moving all the Haven oneshots to be new chapters under the 'Forever A Safe Haven' story. It just keeps them all together and prevents me having to think up a new 'Forever' title every time. I would also label each chapter with where the oneshot falls in the timeline. What do you think?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of its characters and affiliates.**

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><p>As he cracked some eggs into the frypan, William LaMontagne Jr grimaced at the shouting echoing down the stairs.<p>

"'s Ha'en e'er 'onna cut 'Om a b'eak?"

Will chuckled as he turned to face his son, who was sitting at the table with a mouth full of eggs and toast.

"Is Haven ever going to cut Mom a break?" he clarified. When Henry nodded, Will sighed.

"I don't know Henry. I think the better question is whether the two of them are ever going to cut each other a break. I just try to not get involved. Your mom's scary when she's angry," Will admitted.

Henry laughed. "Like that time I came home after curfew. I actually thought she was going to kill me"

Will cocked an eyebrow. "Son, _I_ was going to kill you"

They laughed again, but were quickly interrupted by the sound of someone coming down the stairs.

"You told me I could go! You are unbelievable!" came Haven's voice from the second floor.

"I told you you could go if you got a B on your history test, and Haven, a D is not a B!" JJ yelled back as she rounded the corner and appeared in the kitchen.

"You're ruining my life!"

Poking her head back out into the foyer, JJ looked up towards the second floor. "You'd like to see me try to ruin your life Haven, because trust me, I can do a whole lot worse!"

Henry raised an eyebrow at his dad, who quickly shook his head, indicating that neither of them should speak.

Heaving a sigh of frustration, JJ threw herself into the nearest chair, grabbing the newspaper Will had set down ten minutes earlier.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Will asked gently.

Looking up, JJ looked for a moment as though she had forgotten Will and Henry were in the room.

"Sorry? Oh...yeah...breakfast would be great," she replied quietly, her tone a lot softer than it had been just moments earlier.

A few minutes later, as Will was placing two fried eggs on JJ's plate, a thundering racket told them Haven was coming down the stairs.

Seconds later, she entered the kitchen, her face clouded with anger as she ran a hand through her long, dark hair. Grabbing a piece of toast, she zipped up the last section of her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Henry, can you drive me to school?" she asked, completely ignoring her parents' presence.

"Yeah," Henry said gratefully, rising from his chair and moving to grab his keys. The tension in the room was so thick, he'd have needed a chainsaw to cut it.

"Have a good day," JJ said, her voice still dripping with frustration.

"Why do you care, you already ruined it anyway," Haven spat, throwing her mother a look that could've put Aaron Hotchner to shame.

"Haven," Will said warningly.

Haven remained stoic, moving towards the archway. "You probably wish you miscarried me too, then you wouldn't have to deal with me!"

"HAVEN!" Will roared, anger flooding his system. Haven quickly backed out of the room. She knew as soon as it left her mouth that she'd made a horrible mistake.

"I'm going to kill her," JJ said, rising from her chair so fast it went clattering to the floor.

"NO! No!" Will said quickly, grabbing his wife as she attempted to run after her daughter. "Stay here"

Following his daughter at a run, Will caught up to her at the front gate, grabbing her arm and yanking her back towards him.

"What the hell was that!?" he spat. "How dare you say that to your mother!"

"What? It's true!" Haven retorted. "All she does is make my life miserable, she doesn't want me"

"Haven LaMontagne, how could you ever think that was the case?" Will asked angrily.

"She's always on my case, about every tiny freaking thing, like does she expect me to be perfect? Maybe she does because she sure as hell isn't," Haven replied coldly, deliberately trying to get a rise out of her father.

"You're unbelievable," Will replied, his voice much quieter. "Go to school. We'll deal with you when you get home"

Letting go of her, he turned back towards the house, passing Henry on his way back inside.

"Mom's crying," Henry said softly, stopping on the steps for a moment to talk to his father. "I tried to calm her down...but I think it's you she needs to talk to"

Will nodded solemnly, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "Take your sister to school. If you want to try and talk to her, fine, but she's in a right mood. And then, take this," he said, reaching into his pocket and pressing a fifty dollar bill into Henry's hand. "Go out with a friend, or go out with Lily, treat yourself to something. I think your mom needs some space"

Getting the message, Henry nodded, retrieving his keys from his pocket as he made his way out to his car.

Heading back inside, Will closed the front door behind him. With both of the kids gone, the house was surprisingly quiet.

Except...

The sounds of his wife crying.

Heading towards the kitchen, Will's heart sank as he heard the recognisable sound of his wife attempting to hide her distress.

Entering the room, his heart sank even further as he took in the sight of his wife slumped over the kitchen table, her face buried in her folded arms, her body shaking with the tears she was desperately trying to keep hidden.

"Jennifer," Will said softly. He rarely called her that. He'd used her given name when he was proposing the second time, maybe once when they had a seriously heated argument, and a few times in the throes of passion. For that reason, it always got her attention.

Lifting her face, JJ revealed red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"Why would she...I would never...that's so...," she choked out, before dissolving into tears as Will pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.

"I know...she was way outta line, cher," he murmured, kissing her temple and rubbing gentle circles on her back. "We'll handle it when she gets home"

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><p>JJ had gone to work in a daze. Her eyes were red and puffy, and while everyone had looked concerned, no-one had questioned it. She thanked her lucky stars when it hit 5pm and they didn't have a case; she knew she wouldn't have been able to work to her full potential when her argument with Haven was still fresh in her mind.<p>

Will had berated Haven all afternoon, and JJ had arrived home to find her puffy eyed daughter sitting at the kitchen table trying to do her homework. She had felt oddly sympathetic, but the sympathy wasn't enough to override the lingering hurt and anger from that morning. For that reason, they had avoided each other all evening

However, she knew she had to talk to Haven sooner rather than later. So once Henry had retreated to his room, and Will headed for a shower, she made her way to Haven's room.

Ascending the stairs, she reached Haven's bedroom door as Will turned on the shower in the master bathroom. Knocking gently, she listened to see if she was welcome in.

"Come in," came Haven's muffled voice a few moments later. She sounded tired, upset, and frustrated. JJ wasn't surprised. It had been a shitty day for all of them.

Opening the door, JJ lingered in the doorway.

"Can I talk to you? Or are you still mad at me for ruining your life?" she asked softly, cringing at the accusatory tone in her voice.

Haven shrugged, gesturing at the end of her bed to indicate that her mom was welcome to sit down.

Closing the door behind her, JJ crossed the room and sat down on the end of the bed.

"Haven...you know that what you said was wrong. It was both inappropriate and not true at _all_-"

"I know, Dad ripped me a new one when I got home-"

JJ held up her hand to quiet Haven. Taking a deep breath, she looked straight into her daughter's eyes.

"You know that I had a miscarriage when I was working in Afghanistan," she started softly.

"I know Mom," Haven said gently, sitting up a little more. "I made you feel awful"

JJ nodded. "Just listen to me for a minute. You know about Afghanistan...what Dad and I never told you, and I'm surprised Henry's never mentioned it...is that I had another miscarriage...about a year before you were born"

Haven's eyes widened. "Mom-"

"In a lot of ways, it was worse than the first. The first time I lost a baby, I'd put myself in danger. I carried around that guilt for _years_. I had a medical procedure to end the pregnancy once it was discovered that my baby had died. In a way, I think that helped me pull myself together, but I also think it could have made it worse. You know that I didn't tell your father until almost three years later. He never knew I was pregnant before I miscarried"

Taking a deep breath, JJ swallowed thickly to quell the oncoming tears. "The second one was horrible. I chose to have a natural miscarriage after a routine ultrasound revealed that there was no longer a heartbeat, and Haven, it is _not_ an experience I would go through again. It was excruciating, not just physically, but emotionally too. While I think having a natural miscarriage helped your dad and I grieve properly for our loss, it was also very traumatic, and very painful to think about, and that's why I've never told you about it"

By now, JJ was openly crying, the tears falling down her face as she reached out and took Haven's hands in her own.

"You were my saving grace, Haven. I was terrified when I found out I was pregnant with you, terrified that we would get to twelve weeks and then I would lose you again. If I had miscarried you, Haven, I think that would have been the end of me. I know your dad tells you that I'm one of the strongest people he knows, but there is only so much I can take. You helped heal the wound left behind by the two babies I lost, and I would _never_ wish that such a thing had ever happened to you"

Haven burst into tears, pulling her hands free and throwing her arms around her mom's neck as she buried her face in JJ's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I regretted it as soon as I said it, but I was mad and I wanted to lash out at you so I just left. I never should have said it," she sobbed.

"You shouldn't have, especially because you already knew about Afghanistan. I just want you to understand why it was such a hurtful thing to say, and I don't want you to ever say anything like that again. I do love you, Haven, I would never wish that I didn't have you, but some days you drive me up the wall, you know that?"

Haven let out a watery laugh, lifting her face and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "Probably because I'm so much like you"

JJ cracked a smile, wiping away her own tears. "That's true"

"I'm sorry for yelling at you this morning too. I was just...upset. I was really looking forward to going to that party"

JJ nodded understandingly. "I know, Haven, and you know what? I don't enjoy taking away things that you like, but sometimes it's the only way to make you do better. What do you think would've happened if I'd given in and said you could go?"

Haven glanced down. "I would think that I don't need to pull my grades up...and I'd start failing"

"Exactly," JJ said gently. "So, do you see what your dad and I are doing by taking away privileges? We just want you to work hard and be rewarded. We want to see you excel, and if you stop caring about your grades and putting in the effort, you're going to lose privileges, do you understand? If you're getting good grades in your classes, we have no problem letting you go to a party or hang out with your friends. If you're failing a class, well then you obviously need to put some work in and going out is only going to take away time you could be putting to good use"

"I know," Haven replied. "What do you count as good grades?"

"It depends on what you're good at. You're very good at math, so we would be happy with anything above a B in your math based classes. However, we know you're not as good with science based classes, so any of those we would be happy for you to just keep your grade up to an acceptable pass"

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

Haven swallowed heavily. "Did you mean it? When you said you could do a whole lot worse to ruin my life?"

JJ's heart sank. Whilst Haven had dealt out some stinging comments that morning, it seemed she had also managed to deliver a fairly brutal blow to her daughter's confidence.

"Oh honey, of course I didn't mean it. I would never want to intentionally ruin your life. Unless you stole from my Cheeto stash, and then we might have a problem"

Haven laughed, wrapping her arms around her mom and laying her head on her shoulder.

"I love you, Mom"

JJ smiled, rubbing Haven's back and kissing her temple.

"I love you too, Haven. To the moon and the stars and back again"


End file.
